


raison d'être

by aukusti



Category: Promare (2019)
Genre: Living Together, M/M, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-17
Updated: 2019-12-17
Packaged: 2021-02-25 05:28:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,065
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21830749
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aukusti/pseuds/aukusti
Summary: Home, Lio tells Galo once, is something built; something found. Burnish couldn't afford to be found, so most of them didn't know what a real home looked like.Galo promises to build them a home. Lio trusts him.
Relationships: Lio Fotia/Galo Thymos
Comments: 9
Kudos: 105





	raison d'être

Rebuilding Promepolis would be easier if he still had Promare, Lio thinks.

He says as much to Galo one night, eating pizza on the floor of Galo’s living room. Lio could call it his living room, _their_ living room, since this is where he lives and sleeps and eats.

(Home, Lio tells Galo once, is something built; something found. Burnish couldn't afford to be found, so most of them didn't know what a real home looked like.

Galo promises to build them a home. Lio trusts him.)

“That doesn't make sense.” Galo’s eyebrows knit together as he stuffs his face with more pizza. “What would it help with?”

“To burn everything,” he says simply. “Rebuilding an entire society on top of something that isn't working won't help.”

“But Lio!” Galo’s eyebrows shoot up this time, face painted in disbelief. “We couldn’t let you do that! Where would we get pizza from?”

Lio snorts and Galo’s eyes are shining. “That's your concern? The pizza?”

“Well, yeah. You said Mad Burnish always left escape routes. Why else would I be worried?”

And it really is that simple, Lio realizes. To be honest with someone for the first time, to feel more than hurt and anger and resentment and burn through days, weeks, years because of it. To have that _someone_ be Galo Thymos, because it probably wouldn't feel like being embraced every time he opened his mouth otherwise.

Nobody has ever wanted to see him or know him the way Galo insists he does, all loud proclamations and reassurances that sting before they soothe.

“You’re ridiculous,” Lio tells him as his heart tries to burst out of his chest. He’s learning to let himself be seen.

“It would be nice to be part of Burning Rescue again, though,” Galo mumbles mostly to himself, but his quiet is another’s explosion.

All Lio does is hum, reaching down for another slice of pizza. His hair reaches with him, falling into his face and he huffs, trying to blow it away to no avail as he straightens up again.

“Uh,” Galo says, and Lio hadn’t noticed he had been staring at him. They stare at each other for a few seconds until Galo blurts out, “Your hair is long.”

“It is.” They stare at each other some more. “Something wrong with it?”

Galo’s eyes widen comically. “No, no! It’s just… longer. Than before.”

“It is,” Lio repeats. Galo’s fumbling with his hands in a way that he doesn't understand, but is endeared by nonetheless. “Does it look bad? I've been thinking of getting it cut.”

“Ah,” Galo breathes out. “You never look bad, Lio. You're really pretty.”

“Pretty,” Lio repeats again, and it feels like they're sharing a mutual lapse in brain usage.

“Pretty like a model.” Galo nods, and then brings a hand up to rub the back of his neck sheepishly. “Well, not just a model? Pretty like... like the way the stars shine when you can see them. That's it.”

Maybe he was short circuiting. Maybe they both were, but Lio most; his hands were clenching and unclenching at the hem of his (Galo’s) sweater, staring past Galo’s broad shoulders and focusing on the bookcase full of boardgames behind him.

He jumps at Galo’s touch on his forearm, eyes refocusing. “Hi,” he says, because this happens sometimes.

“Hey,” Galo responds, because he knows. “Bed?”

Nodding, he moves to stand up and notices a not yet empty pizza box situated between where they had been sitting. He points at it and Galo’s face lights up.

“Leftovers,” they both say and the smile that Galo gives him makes it easy to smile back. Every day, he’s reminded there are things that can keep him just as warm as promare.

“I’ll meet you there,” Galo calls over his shoulder, leaning down to grab the pizza and put it away. Lio pads away into their now shared bedroom, staring at the bed momentarily before climbing in and making himself comfortable under the covers.

Life without promare was... cold. It felt like Lio had been stripped of safety, of purpose, of most of the things he felt made him a person.

He thinks about the frenzy he had been in after Lio de Galon’s fight with Kray. He remembers trying to pry the Prometech Engine apart by himself, desperate to free any Burnish he could from another cage that was of anything but their own making. He had to be pulled away by Gueira and Meis, sat down by Burning Rescue’s captain.

“Leader to leader,” Ignis said to him, voice sounding kinder when he let it reach him at close proximity. “Learn to rely on other people. They want to be there for you.” He motioned to the other Mad Burnish with his head and Lio followed with his eyes. Gueira and Meis were working together with members of Burning Rescue to pull people from the enclosures of the Prometech Engine. He spotted Galo’s messy hair and then the rest of him, wiping sweat from his forehead. He looked away before he could look any further.

“You’re not alone anymore,” Ignis had said to him. “The Rescue is here if you need us.”

Lio had felt like saying he hadn’t been alone to begin with, he had Mad Burnish. He glanced at them again and realized that despite having them, being Burnish meant you weren’t allowed to have anything. He was just lucky—to have anyone at all, to be alive.

Luck continued to be on his side.

He hears Galo walking towards the bedroom, humming some jingle or another they had heard on television.

“Welcome back,” Lio says as Galo enters the room. He gets a wide grin in return and feels the light that’s come to nestle itself in his ribcage.

“So your hair,” Galo says, sitting on the edge of the bed and peeling his socks off before his shirt followed. It was a miracle Lio got him to put one on, really, even if it had just been to answer the door when their pizza had gotten there. “Are you gonna do something to it?”

Lio blinks. “Why do you ask?”

Shrugging, Galo pulls the covers aside before sliding in fully, propping his head up on his elbow. “It suits you. Oh, and you look nice.”

He isn’t given a chance to respond before Galo’s hand is reaching for him and holding the side of his face like he’s the most precious thing in the world. “And I want to braid it.”

“Braid?” Lio snorts. “Can you even do that?” His hand comes up to hold Galo’s wrist, thumb over his pulse point.

“I can!” Galo huffs and pinches Lio’s cheek for good measure. He scowls and Galo does it again, earning him a tight squeeze of his wrist. “Aina taught me. I think I do a fine waterfall braid, if I do say so myself.”

“You do say so,” Lio retorts, tucking a strand of hair behind his ear with his other hand for emphasis.

Galo is all puppy dog eyes now. “So can I?”

Lio decides to fix him with _a look_. He sees and feels Galo shudder. “Can you?”

Groaning, Galo drops his head onto Lio’s shoulder. “No fair,” he whines, and it comes out muffled. “I’m trying to be sweet and you—you just—”

“Kiss me,” Lio says, and that’s all it takes to kickstart Galo into action.

 _It’s okay to want things_ , he thinks as Galo’s mouth moves against his. As Galo shifts to hover over him, he places a hand on his forearm, the other over his accelerated heartbeat. _It’s okay to need them_.

Sitting up and tugging Galo towards him, Lio immediately goes for his collarbone, biting down without hesitation and reveling in the sound of Galo gasping. He soothes it over with his tongue, peppering kisses across his skin as he moves towards his neck, nipping at the pulse point by his jaw.

Galo breathes out a laugh, pulling Lio onto his lap and tapping on his knee so he could adjust himself. He makes a point of grinding down as he moves, and Galo makes a sweet _ah_ noise. “Devil,” he says with no real malice at all.

“Mm.” Lio’s hands wrap loosely around his neck, leaning his head back down to bite formless shapes into his skin. “Am I?”

“Yeah.” It comes out in a shuddering exhale as his hips snap up every time Lio bites with just a bit more force. His hands squeeze Lio’s hips. “An artist, too. Where would I be without you?” His hand rests at the back of Lio’s neck, holds him where he is.

“They're constellations,” he decides on the spot, not caring that he wouldn't have names for them if Galo asked.

Galo’s laughter is full of warmth, and Lio wants to drink it up, wants to feel just as warm. He wants them to burn together.

“I like you,” Galo says and Lio has to raise his head to look him in the eyes. Galo’s gaze is unwavering. “I like you a lot. I like everything you do.”

“I,” Lio says, and he isn't sure where to go beyond that. He clears his throat. “Yeah. I hope so.” His fingers ghost up and down his throat, splayed over his handiwork. “I like you, too. As you can tell.”

“I can tell.” Galo’s eyes are glittering with amusement and then he says, “Everyone else will be able to tell this week, too.”

“Put on a shirt,” Lio says coolly, pressing his thumb against a blooming purple. “This is for you, not anyone else.”

“But Lio.” One of Galo’s hands rises to his chest, voice full of faux hurt as he wears an affronted expression. “The world needs to see your art! It's not fair if it's just me!”

“Pick a struggle,” Lio says, something he picked up from Lucia, all huffy in the way he gets when he's trying not to be embarrassed. Galo downright _cackles_.

Nuzzling his cheek against Lio’s, Galo sighs contentedly. Lio wonders if he might've been a dog in his past life. “You're great,” Galo mumbles into his skin. “I still think you should let me braid your hair.”

“In the morning.” Galo makes a pleased noise and presses a kiss to Lio’s temple, letting his lips linger there before moving to lay down, Lio letting himself be moved as well.

They face each other and Lio buries his head in Galo’s chest, breathing him in and paying close attention to the sound of his unwavering heartbeat. He sends a silent prayer to the sky to keep it that way, figuring if promare could come and go, they could both continue their lives in a joined present.

Pulling away and turning around, it takes a split second for Galo to drape an arm around Lio’s middle. He nuzzles his cheek against the top of his head this time.

“Weirdo,” he mumbles, arm looping around the one Galo’s holding against him. A word from Aina, this time.

“I'm hurt, Lio,” Galo says, not sounding hurt at all. “Maybe Burning Rescue are a bad influence.” They both know it's the opposite.

“Jealous?” Lio chooses to say instead, letting his eyes fall shut.

“No way,” Galo insists, but he's huffing anyway. It makes Lio smile. “Unless you're giving anyone else… ah, _masterpieces_.”

“You're still as ridiculous as you were earlier, Galo Thymos.” His voice is laced with sleep and the promise of rediscovering dreams that wouldn't haunt him, cocooned in a warmth that was reassuring. Lio wonders if you can find home in other people.

Galo brushes some hair away from his neck, rests his mouth there. “You should sleep.” Lio feels every word being sounded out against his skin, clear as day.

“You won't let me,” he grumbles, pulling the arm around him just the last bit closer.

Pressing a chaste kiss to his neck, Galo moves his hair back to where it had been before and leans his head against the back of Lio’s own. “Okay, okay, I'm done now. Goodnight, Lio.”

The next morning, Lio isn't sure if a responding 'goodnight' made it out of his mouth before he was taken by sleep, but he realizes he has every following night to make sure it does.

The light that's begun living in him spreads a little further.

**Author's Note:**

> i watched promare in september and tried to push how badly i wanted to write for it out of my brain. and then the redux happened  
> @hanayo on twitter 
> 
> thanks for reading <3


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